Keith Lockhart celebrates diversity and immigration on the Fourth of July

Jody Feinberg The Patriot Ledger

Thursday

Jun 28, 2018 at 3:01 AMJul 3, 2018 at 3:48 PM

Keith Lockhart celebrates diversity and immigration on the Fourth of July

There’s a reason thousands of people camp out on the Esplanade hours before the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular. It truly is spectacular to watch Keith Lockhart and the headline singers as they celebrate the ideals of America on its birthday, which this year will be front and center.

The line-up is all-female, and there will be a focus on the role of immigrants in shaping America.

“I’m excited that we’re celebrating that this country is an amalgamation of people who come from all over the world,” Lockhart said. “I’m not politicizing things, but I think we need to respond positively and stand for things that make this holiday worth celebrating. I think it’s going to be beautiful.”

The performers are Grammy Award winners Rhiannon Giddens and the duo the Indigo Girls, pop singer-songwriter Rachel Patten, known for “Fight Song,” and legendary Puerto Rican-born and “West Side Story” star Rita Moreno, who will lead the immigration segment.

It’s not totally accidental that the performers include African-American and Hispanic women.

“It’s been an interesting year for people examining and reexamining attitudes toward women and diversity,” Lockhart said. “I think there is a very import message there, but the fact they are female and diverse is secondary to them being great musicians. They cover a wide spectrum of musical expression and everyone will find something that appeals to them.”

Moreno, the rare EGOT winner for her Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards, is part of the worldwide tributes to Leonard Bernstein on the centennial of his birth.

“She’ll reprise what she famously did in West Side Story,” Lockhart said. “She’s still got it and is quite an amazing performer.”

Giddens, a bi-racial singer, violinist and banjo player, is a founding member of the country, blues, and old-time music band Carolina Chocolate Drops, which was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. She also has numerous solo albums, and last year, she received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant, which provides funds to allow exceptionally talented and ground-breaking people to fully pursue their projects.

“She’s an incredible talent and fascinating person to present,” Lockhart said. “She’s on the cutting edge of performance honoring and supporting musical traditions in this country that go back 100s of years.”

As part of the immigrant segment, the cast will “join in a ‘This Land is Your Land’ moment,” Lockhart said. The orchestra will perform excerpts from "Ellis Island," by composer Peter Ellis, with performers reading true accounts from immigrants about their voyage and impressions on sailing into New York Harbor. The piece ends with a recitation of Emma Lazurus poem, "The New Colassus," whose words appear on the base of the Statue of Liberty. As always, the concert has the exciting military flyover and 30 minutes of fireworks to music.

After last year’s viewing challenges, people not in the audience will find it easier to see the concert. The entire two and a half hour performance will be shown on a massive screen on the Rose Kennedy Greenway at High Street and will be broadcast on WHDH-TV. It also will be live-streamed on Bloomberg.com, BostonGlobe.com, Boston.com, and BostonPopsjuly4th.org. and carried on Bloomberg radio. In previous years, CBS broadcast a truncated version.

“It’s more than a concert, it’s a social phenomenon,” Lockhart said. “This concert has an incredible amount of meaning to a whole lot of people as a way to celebrate our country’s birthday. There are people in front who’ve come every year since I’ve been there and that’s 24 years.”